I'm doing bidirectional science popularization in American comics

Nine o'clock in the evening, on the rooftop of Jonathan's rented apartment building.

“You’ve come,” Bruce said.

"Yes, of course I came."

After exchanging greetings, the two began to sneak into the apartment building.

Infiltrating the apartment was easy for both of them. Bruce was naturally adept, while Depp had previously learned stealth and disguise skills from Natasha, so he also infiltrated the apartment with great ease.

Depp was able to operate as Iron Fist without Bruce discovering his true identity thanks to Natasha's disguise skills, which allowed him to consciously alter his physical form slightly.

It's important to know that Batman has equipment that scans the body parameters of his opponents, so if he doesn't disguise himself, Bruce can easily identify him.

In fact, Bruce did compare Iron Fist's physique with that of Depp, Gordon, and even Harvey, and the results showed that their physiques were all different.

Once they reached the apartment door, Bruce was left to unlock it.

After all, Depp never learned this skill from anyone.

Watching Bruce, dressed in his Batman suit, crouching in front of the door and using special tools to pick the lock with both hands, Depp suddenly found it somewhat amusing.

A blue screen with white text inexplicably appeared before my eyes—"Bruce Wayne, the Lock King, Gotham Police Department Filing a Report."

With a click, the apartment door opened.

Bruce and Depp put the lock-picking tools back into the small yellow bag on their waists and walked into Jonathan's apartment together.

Alfred's intelligence was entirely correct; Jonathan not only rented the entire floor, but also connected them all together.

Depp and Bruce were stunned by what they saw.

Jonathan transformed the entire apartment into a chemistry lab, filled with all sorts of chemical equipment.

Countless test tubes, beakers, and experimental equipment were neatly arranged on the lab table, and there were even two large centrifuges deep inside the apartment.

There were also many finished products of toxic fumes, neatly stacked in a room used as a warehouse.

“This is incredible, it’s comparable to the setup in my family’s chemical plant lab.” Bruce had to admit that he had lost his gamble: “Depp, you were right.”

Depp was so shocked he could hardly speak. This was the real place where they experimented with and created fear gas!

It's so much more advanced than the makeshift lab benches that antique shops make themselves!

And based on the information in his mind, Depp was 100% certain that Jonathan's fear gas had been upgraded!

Because many of the experimental instruments were not used in the previous version, but now they have appeared in Jonathan's laboratory.

“He truly is a genius,” Depp said sincerely.

On the other side, before Depp and Bruce met.

At the gates of Gotham University, Jonathan, a thin man with long, slender limbs, walked out of the school gates and glanced at his watch.

8:50.

"Damn school, why are they scheduling my classes so full!" Jonathan muttered angrily, his face contorted with discontent, "Let these idiots study on their own. I have other things to do today!"

He waved down a taxi and said, "To Mrs. Manil's apartment on Naihe Island."

Chapter 51 The Apartment of Fear

Looking at the light drizzle falling outside the window, Bruce felt a mix of emotions.

Depp deduced the real culprit from just one sentence, even though he couldn't catch the scarecrow face to face!

This is unbelievable!

Bruce even began to wonder if Depp was just too freakish, or if he himself had a problem with his intelligence.

This question puzzled Bruce for 0.5 seconds. He was certain that his IQ was definitely not the problem; it must be that Depp was just too freakish!

"How exactly did you deduce that Jonathan is the Scarecrow?" Bruce finally couldn't help but ask.

Depp organized his thoughts, mentally reviewing the excuses he had prepared, and then asked in return, "Do you remember the charity gala last time?"

“A charity gala?” Bruce asked. “Which one are you referring to?”

Damn! I forgot that this guy attends various banquets and aristocratic events almost every day!

Depp reiterated, "It was the charity gala that Selena invited me to, which I also attended."

Bruce recalled for a moment and said, "I remember now! Jonathan and Hugo did represent Gotham University at that dinner. But what does that have to do with your reasoning?"

Depp explained, "Because Selena introduced me to Jonathan and Hugo, and I introduced Joseph to a friend of mine who was having academic problems. Jonathan had repeatedly mentioned to him that one could try using the emotion of fear."

"So you're concluding that the scarecrow who used the fear gas is very likely Jonathan?" Bruce blurted out.

Although Depp's explanation was somewhat far-fetched, it wasn't entirely unreasonable, Bruce thought. Perhaps some people are just able to connect these details that ordinary people wouldn't notice and then deduce the truth.

Depp breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Bruce believed him: "That's right, that's exactly it."

I deduced who the scarecrow was entirely based on existing clues, not on the comics.

While the two were talking, they also inspected each room.

As he walked into the group of rooms on the left, Depp suddenly heard a barely audible groan.

He glanced at Bruce, who clearly noticed as well.

Following the sound inwards, the groans gradually grew louder, coming from the innermost rooms on the left!

These rooms were already locked, and Bruce crouched down again, becoming the King of Locks.

The door to the first room was opened, revealing only seven or eight beds and IV stands beside them.

On each bed lay an elderly person, all bound to the bed with thick duct tape and rope.

Most of the elderly people tied to the beds had calm expressions, seemingly having gotten used to life here.

Only a few elderly people with IV drips attached to their bodies had bloodshot, bulging eyes filled with fear, struggling incessantly. They were clearly trapped in the deepest fears of their consciousness, unable to break free.

And because they were tied to the bed, even if they struggled with all their might, these elderly people who had been injected with the venom of fear could not move their bodies even an inch.

They could only watch helplessly as the thing they feared most approached them step by step, unable to even put up a fight.

Even with your eyes closed, you can't block out those things.

Upon seeing this, Bruce said, "How could that guy do this to an old man? Does he really have no humanity at all?"

As he spoke, he took some ether from the lab table outside, intending to make the elderly people faint in order to resist the onslaught of fear.

Watching Bruce operate, Depp said, "I think this thing might not work. Even when they are unconscious, the things that terrify them will continue to torment them as nightmares until the fear venom wears off."

“But I have to try,” Bruce said, smearing the ether, whose dosage and concentration had been repeatedly checked, onto the noses of the elderly people.

A few moments later, the old people fell into a deep sleep.

Just when Bruce thought he had succeeded, the old people in their sleep began to struggle even more violently than before, and those nightmares seemed to be even more powerful in the dream.

“I told you, Bruce.”

"Okay, I was wrong again."

Then, the doors to the rooms were opened one by one, revealing adult men, adult women, and children locked inside.

There were eight people in each room, three of whom were injected with the Fear Poison.

“That damn scarecrow!” Bruce said, as he and Depp helped untie the ropes from those who hadn’t been injected with the fear venom.

Depp stroked the child's hair on the bed and said, "Go home quickly! Get out of here before the Scarecrow comes back."

The rescued crowd scattered, leaving only those still gripped by fear trembling in place.

But they couldn't take all of these people away in a short time, because Depp and Bruce had other tasks—to destroy the remaining fear gas here.

Looking at the canisters of fear gas and bottles of fear venom in the warehouse, Bruce was at a loss.

Although he was a genius, chemistry was clearly not his forte. He said with some helplessness, "What should we do with these things? Perhaps... we can take them out and burn them?"

Upon hearing this, Depp covered his head and said, "Burn it up? Do you want the whole city to go wild? Not everyone in Gotham has a gas bat mask like yours."

Depp turned and walked to the testing table. Knowing how the first version of the fear gas was made, he naturally knew how to destroy the unused fear gas.

While there is no antidote for fear gas that has already been used on humans, there are ways to neutralize fear gas that has not yet been used.

Bruce watched Depp busy at the lab bench, but he couldn't help at all, and he felt a little discouraged.

In his mind, Depp had become even more mysterious and powerful.

"How does this guy know everything? Looks like I need to go back and brush up on my chemistry."

While Depp was busy making a fear gas neutralizer, he was unaware that Bruce had begun to seriously study chemistry because of him.

Ten minutes later, Depp returned to the warehouse with a bucket of clear neutralizing agent. He picked up a syringe, drew the liquid into it, and then injected it one by one into the containers that contained fear gas and fear venom.

Bruce immediately felt relieved when he saw the pale yellow, terrifying gas in the jar neutralized into a transparent, colorless substance the moment the liquid was injected.

The first barrel of neutralizer was quickly used up, but less than one-tenth of the fear gas and venom in the warehouse had been neutralized.

"I need to go back and mix a little more."

Bruce, who had seen Depp's production, said, "I think I can help this time."

"Thank you very much, my sidekick Batman."

While the two were busily preparing the neutralizing agent, Jonathan returned to the apartment building.

"Damn taxi driver, why do I have to pay an extra dollar to get to Naihe Island?!"

Jonathan complained about the driver's overcharging and habitually looked up at the apartment building entrance.

The light on his floor was on, and two dark figures were reflected in the window, which made Jonathan's expression change drastically!

Most importantly, the person who sneaked into my house was not an ordinary thief.

After all, no thief would wear two pointy bat ears on the top of his head; there's only one person in all of Gotham dressed like that.

"Die, Batman! I'll plunge you and this apartment into the deepest terror!"

Jonathan cursed as he took out a scarecrow mask from his briefcase to block out the fear gas and put it on. Then he took out a controller with a red button and pressed it.

As soon as the controller was pressed, all the high-concentration fear gas in the warehouse was released in an instant!

Chapter 52 This stuff is not for drinking!